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Early life[edit]

Metcalf was born in Carbondale, Illinois, the eldest of three children, with her brother James, and sister Linda,[7] and was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois, which she has said "isn't anywhere near a theatre".[8] Her father, James, was the budget director at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville at the time of his sudden death in 1984,[9] and her mother, Libby, was a librarian.[10][11] Her great-aunt was the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Zoë Akins.[12] Metcalf is an alumna of Illinois State University, class of 1976.[13] She worked as a "damn good" secretary while in college and thoroughly enjoyed seeing a pile of paper in the to-do box on one side of her desk move over to the completed side by the end of the day, as she often zoned in on the task at hand and worked through lunch.[8] She originally majored in German thinking she could work as an interpreter and then in Anthropology before accepting that majoring in Theatre was her true passion, and has said that theatre work also involves the interpreting and studying human behavior.[8] She has described herself as hideously shy, yet found the courage to audition for a few plays in high school and was "hooked", yet never considered acting as a career because of the unlikelihood of it actually leading to regular work.[8] She liked bike riding as a child.[14]

There's a moment when Laurie Metcalf – who plays this poor young thing that comes to the big city and hangs out at this greasy spoon diner where the play is set – is talking about her once boyfriend who is an albino; I think it's a monologue of about five, six, seven minutes. Just to sit there and watch and hear Laurie unspool that story, it just brought tears coming down your eyes–oh, boy, it was something.

”

— Chicago critic Richard Christiansen on Balm in Gilead

Thereafter, Metcalf relocated to Manhattan and began to work in both film and theater, including such productions as David Mamet's November.

Through the end of June 2009, Metcalf starred with French Stewart in Justin Tanner's play, Voice Lessons, in Hollywood before beginning rehearsals to play Kate Jerome in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical plays Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound, directed by David Cromer. The former production's run, however, lasted but one week, while the latter was canceled prior to opening. Voice Lessons, however, with its original cast intact, went on to two more runs - one Off-Broadway in May 2010,[17] and another in Hollywood in May 2011.[18]

In September 2010, Metcalf returned to Steppenwolf and starred in Lisa D'Amour's play, Detroit. In the Spring of 2011, she began work on an Off-Broadway play, The Other Place by Sharr White.[19]

In 2012, Metcalf joined British actor David Suchet in a British stage production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night.

She performed in The Other Place (play) again in 2013, this time on Broadway and earning a Tony-nomination. She starred with her real life daughter, Zoe Perry.[20] In October 2013, Metcalf performed with Jeff Goldblum in Domesticated, by playwright Bruce Norris at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater of Lincoln Center.

Metcalf has appeared in several television series, including being a cast member for a single episode of Saturday Night Live – the final episode of the show's tumultuous 1980-1981 season. In 1981, she appeared as a feature player on the first Dick Ebersol-produced episode of Saturday Night Live following the firing of Jean Doumanian and her cast (save for Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Denny Dillon, and Gail Matthius). She appeared in a Weekend Update segment about taking a bullet for the President of the United States. Because of the sketch show's severe decline in quality at the time and the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike, the show was put on hiatus for retooling. Metcalf was never asked back to be a cast member.

Metcalf is perhaps best known for her role as "Jackie", the multiple-careered, low self-esteemed, amiable sister of the title character in the hit series Roseanne. Her performance garnered her three consecutive Emmy Awards. Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997, and Laurie appeared as Jackie over the show's entire run.

She took a recurring role on Desperate Housewives – for which she received an Emmy (also in the category Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series) and a Satellite Award nomination – and also appeared alongside her ex-husband Jeff Perry in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. In fall 2008, Metcalf starred in the CWdramedyEasy Money, as the matriarch of a family of loan sharks. The series was canceled after three episodes.

Personal life[edit]

In 1983, Metcalf married Jeff Perry, co-founding member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. They had a daughter, Zoe, in 1984, and later divorced, in 1992.[21]

Metcalf later began a relationship with Matt Roth, the Roseanne co-star who played her abusive boyfriend, Fisher. By November 1993 they had a son, Will, and eventually married. They also worked together on occasion, as in the 1994 feature film thriller Blink and the 1998 drama Chicago Cab;[22] they also appeared together in an episode of Desperate Housewives. Their daughter Mae Akins was born in 2005 via surrogate.They had a second son Donovan whom they fostered at 6 years old in 2006 and permanently adopted.[23]

On November 26, 2008, Metcalf and Roth separated. In September 2011, Roth filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. In May 2014 they officially divorced.[24]

She enjoys doing yoga before a performance and practices all of her lines out loud before a show.[25] She also enjoys playing Bananagrams[25] and not wearing makeup.[26] She has self-disclosed as a workaholic and that she is hard on herself during rehearsals.[5] She has often said that she prefers theatre to any acting medium as it is where she feels most comfortable.[5]